📑 Sections (7)

2. Sharing territory with the kick

Bass and kick fight over the same range. The two sharing strategies, how to pick one, and how to find the frequencies with the sweep technique.

This is the decision in a bass mix. Bass and kick live in the same range and, if both occupy all of it, they mask each other: the result is that mix where the low end sounds like a lot and like nothing at the same time — loud but with no punch. The solution isn’t turning one down: it’s splitting the space so each one owns a zone.

The two strategies (pick one)

Option A — kick low, bass higher

The kick keeps the sub and the thump (50–80 Hz) and the bass rules slightly higher (80–150 Hz). On the bass you cut gently around 60–70 Hz and, if needed, boost 100–120 Hz a little.

Sounds: modern, with a kick that hits you in the chest. It’s typical of current metal, where the kick has to cut through very dense guitars.

Option B — bass low, kick higher

The bass keeps the bottom (50–90 Hz) and the kick is defined by its click in the mids (3–5 kHz) with less low end. On the kick you cut around 80 Hz and boost the attack.

Sounds: more classic and organic, with a huge bass holding up the song. It works beautifully in rock, stoner and anything that breathes.

How to find the exact frequency

There are no universal numbers: they depend on your Superior Drummer kick and your bass. You find them by ear, with kick and bass soloed:

  1. Solo kick and bass only.
  2. On the bass’s Pro EQstock, create a bell with a strong boost (+10 dB) and a medium Q.
  3. Sweep it between 40 and 200 Hz. You’ll find a zone where the kick disappears behind the bass: that’s where they’re fighting.
  4. Invert that boost into a cut of 2 to 4 dB and ease off until the kick is audible again without the bass losing body.
  5. If needed, make the complementary move on the kick (if you cut 70 Hz on the bass, a gentle boost there on the kick pays off).
The sharing cuta wide bell of −2 to −4 dB, between 60 and 120 Hz

Opens room for the kick exactly where it hits. A little (2 dB) is already noticeable; overdoing it (−6 dB or more) leaves a hole and the bass loses its fundamental. This is the adjustment where less is more.

The body boosta wide bell of +1 to +3 dB, between 80 and 150 Hz

Gives weight back in the zone that DOES belong to the bass. Push it too far and the bass starts to sound like 'one single note' and blurs the whole song.

🔴 Set this NOW· in mixing

The bass/kick split defines how the song's foundation sounds, and everything else (compression, saturation, guitar balance, master) is adjusted on top of that split. Change it late and you have to redo a big part of the mix.

Try it: sweeping with an analyzer

Pick the bass source in the player and practice the sweep technique: boost the mid band with a narrow Q, sweep slowly and listen to how the character changes in each zone. Watch the analyzer to connect what you hear with where the energy is. It’s the same mechanic you’ll use with your real kick and bass.

Playground · 3-band equalizer

  • •▶ Play — plays the audio in a loop.
  • •No EQ / With EQ — switch between the sound with and without the EQ to compare, at the same volume. The segment with the lit border is the one you're hearing (the classic studio “A/B” comparison).
  • •↺ Reset — returns the controls to 0.

🎧 Audio to processChoose which sound goes through the effect:

  • •🎸 Bass — a synthesized riff with dynamics: ideal for hearing compression.
  • •📢 Pink noise — an even sound across the whole spectrum: ideal for “seeing” the EQ.
  • •🎵 Load your audio — your own file (MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, M4A…); it's processed locally in your browser and isn't uploaded anywhere.

Each control changes one zone of the sound. Move it and listen (and watch the spectrum above move):

LOWS

MIDS

HIGHS

An easy experiment: choose 📢 Pink noise, lower the LOWS Gain (it clears up) and raise the MIDS gain at 3–5 kHz (it gets more present). Switch the EQ on and off to compare with and without.

Common mistakes

What you should NOT chase yet

Guide-song kick and bass (for the sharing demo)Pending — this one is on you

To build an A/B that shows frequency sharing I need two files from the guide song, in prodmus_frontend/public/audio/bajo/:

  • The kick alone from the verse, exported from Superior Drummer 3 (4 bars, 110 BPM).
  • The verse bass (the DI or the amp-sim version, the same 4 bars).

WAV 24/48, no clipping. With those two I can publish an A/B of kick + bass unshared against kick + bass shared, which is the clearest way to hear what all of this is about.

Quick route — sharing in 10 minutes

Quick path

  1. Pick a strategy: kick low / bass higher (modern metal) or bass low / kick higher (more classic).
  2. Solo kick and bass only.
  3. Sweep the bass between 40 and 200 Hz to find where it masks the kick.
  4. Wide cut of 2–4 dB in that zone; complementary boost on the kick if needed.
  5. Confirm with the whole song: the kick must hit and the bass must hold, with neither disappearing.

Expected result

Expected result

Bass and kick sharing: listening to them together, the kick hits clearly and the bass holds without you having to turn either one up. In the full song, the low end feels defined instead of being one mass. With the territory split, the next step is giving the bass an even level from start to finish.